Two-thirds of Chinese boycotted Japanese goods over Senkaku Islands dispute

Two-thirds of Chinese boycotted Japanese goods over Senkaku Islands dispute

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Last Updated: Sun, Jan 06, 2013 11:00 hrs

Nearly two-thirds of Chinese people boycotted Japanese products amid the Senkaku islands with Japan, a new poll has found.

The Kyodo news online survey found that almost all Chinese said that anti-Japan sentiment has intensified in the world's second-largest economy since the government purchased three the Senkaku islands in September.

According to the Japan Times, the findings also highlighted a disparity in the way Chinese and Japanese view each another, with roughly one-third of the Chinese respondents feeling they can still trust Japan despite the Senkakus territorial row, while only five percent of the Japanese polled gave a similar answer.

The survey found that more than 65 percent of both the Japanese and Chinese respondents said they have not felt like visiting the other country since Japan nationalized the Senkaku islands.

Asked whether ties between the two nations need to improve, 71 percent of the Chinese respondents and 60 percent of the Japanese polled agreed.

The survey was conducted by research firms Searchina (Shanghai) Co., based in Shanghai, and Nippon Research Center Ltd. in Tokyo from late November through early December.

Searchina selected 1,000 Chinese from some 550,000 people registered with the company in China, and Nippon Research chose 1,000 Japanese from some 260,000 people who responded to the poll in Japan.

According to the report, on the violent anti-Japanese demonstrations that broke out across China in September, 24 percent of the Chinese respondents said they had taken part in the protests.

Nearly 74 percent of those polled said that although they can understand the feelings of the demonstrators, their behavior went too far, the report added. (ANI)